The investigation into Kokrajhar riot in Assam has taken a new turn with Central Bureau of Investigation finding the hands of top political leaders who were instrumental in instigating the violence of Western Assam in 2012.
Disclosing that top political leaders including some very prominent leaders from ruling party may also be charge-sheeted for his role in engineering the violence through some of the organisation, authoritative security sources in the home ministry told this newspaper that in the aftermath of riot, there was also an attempt to provoke the Muslim youths to take up arms.
Informing that investigation has revealed that a group of Muslim youths made very serious attempt to procure arms from Dimapur in Nagaland and Bangladesh, security sources said that they could not get the consignment of 12 AK-47 rifles just because the arms dealer was arrested just before the delivery of weapons.
Refusing to divulge the name of leaders whose role was under the scanner of the CBI, security sources said that violence was orchestrated to discredit the government led by chief minister Tarun Gogoi. Security sources did not rule out that the ongoing infighting within the rank and file of the ruling Congress party had its shadow on Kokrajhar violence. Claiming that investigating agency was also collecting technical evidence to grill these influential leaders who were hand in glove, security sources said that CBI was looking into all the aspects of conspiracy.
Pointing out that role of outlawed NDFB has also come to light, security sources clarified that they got involved only after the violence broke out.
Asserting that stress was on to unearth the conspiracy angle of the Kokrajhar violence, security sources said that agency was also examining the roles of a few NGOs who were very active in riot hit areas of Western Assam.
The CBI has already arrested 11 people so far for their “active” role in the riot that had left over 100 dead and rendered over 5 lakh people homeless.
Among those arrested included Mainul Haque, the founder president of All BTC Minority Students’ Union (ABMSU), a powerful minority student organisation in the Bodoland Territorial Autonomous Districts (BTAD), and two others Zagir Ali and Zahanuddin Sheikh.
Security sources however admitted that majority of those arrested had very strong political connections.